Yale Students Are Committed To Building Better Food Businesses

If you ask the Yale cofounders of a frozen fresh meal kit company Zoni Foods why so many recent Yalies are launching food businesses they credit interest in three things: convenience, health and sustainability. “Our generation’s lifestyle has changed so fundamentally,” says cofounder Nilofer Ahmed, who graduated Yale School of Management in 2016 and currently works as a consultant. “Our lives are frantic, we’re eating on the go, and our values have changes. We’re thinking about what we’re eating and the impact it’s having.”

Zoni Foods founders with prepared meal

Zoni Foods

Nilofer, with cofounder Zoe Lloyd—who has a joint degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and SOM—launched Zoni foods to provide a product they themselves wanted to have on hand for easy, healthy, affordable meals that require just enough cooking to feel homemade. Their soon-to-be-released product line includes spirulized sweet potato noodles with garlic alfredo sauce and mushroom fritters an spirulized carrot and zucchini noodles with coconut curry sauce and spiced chickpeas. Packages come with recommended wine and beer pairings. The frozen meals are all plant-based and cook in one pan on the stovetop. The pair have responded to waning consumer enthusiasm for the meal delivery kits that come with too much packaging and leave people feeling guilty if their plans change and the food goes bad. “Young professionals are busy and spontaneous,” Ahmed says. “They want the flexibility of having something in the freezer.”

Zoni is just one of many food ventures that have taken root at Yale in recent years. Student-launched ventures include Junzi Kitchen, cofounded by three Yale graduate students, Yong Zhao (FES ’08 Ph.D. ’15), Wanting Zhang (FES ’11) and Ming Bai (ART ’13)—which has become an established presence in New Haven’s Broadway district. The restaurant is reimagining Northern Chinese cuisine in the form of bings (wraps) and noodle dishes that are made to order with a series of add-ons that include braised meats, Chinese vegetables, pickles, garnish and sauce. Junzi opened its second location near Columbia University on June 21.

Chops Snacks

Chops Snacks

Chops Snacks was founded by two Yale undergrads, Luke Sellers (YC ’17) and Aaron Jones (’17), who saw an opportunity to grow a small beef jerky business started by Sellers’ father-in-law into a nationwide brand. The company’s emphasis is on high-quality ingredients—they use premium beef brisket for a flavorful, easy-to-chew jerky.

Jennifer Milikowsky (MBA/FES ’15) first conceived of her food venture Walden Hill as a way to support local farmers by building a business around sustainable acorn-fed pork. Chefs and customers rave about the tastier pork and farmers who raise her pigs are guaranteed sales. “From the farmers to the chefs to the butchers, it’s exciting to help support local agriculture and connect all these different pieces,” Milikowsky says.

A team of current Yale undergrads has a launched a venture called Verb—energy bars powered by green tea-based caffeine and a few easy-to-recognize ingredients. “When I was a freshman, I never thought I would do entrepreneurship,” says cofounder Bennett Byerley (YC ’19).

Verb energy bar

Verb

“But I was always interested in ideas and I got excited by it. When you start working on something it gets more fun along the way.” The team, which includes Matthew Czarnecki (YC ’18), Andre Monteiro (YC ’18) and Isaac Morrier YC ’17, began by making bars in their Davenport residential college kitchen. They handed out 300 bars outside the Bass Library. They researched how to make the bars stick better and ultimately tried over 100 recipe iterations before they found something they liked. They’ve now moved on from making batches in local bakeries to an official manufacturer. In addition to winning entrance into a Summer Fellowship at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, the team received $20,000 from Dorm Room Fund and are currently at the Highland Summer Accelerator in Palo Alto—which includes $30,000, office space and mentorship. “There’s something really exciting in creating something new,” syas Byerley. “We’re not changing the world, but we’re making more people happy.”

Yale is responding to the uptick in interest in food ventures. There’s talk of utilizing space at West Campus for a test kitchen, where the Landscape Lab already serves as a flexible outdoor space for building ventures with a sustainability focus. Barry Nalebuff, cofounder of Honest Tea, is a professor of management at Yale School of Management, and he and cofounder Seth Goldman (’95) serve as advisors to many of Yale’s budding food entrepreneurs. Honest Tea is backing an expansion of entrepreneurship space at the business school. Currently known as “the bunker” the space will grow to twice the size and be called the Honest Tea Entrepreneurial Suite.

“It’s been great to see Yale adapt the entrepreneurship scene to fit food ventures,” says Lloyd.

@kate_l_harrison is a branding and marketing consultant specializing in nonprofits and sustainable businesses (katelharrison.com).